Wait, wasn't the internet invented back in 1867?!? I've gotten chain mails in my email saying that the email has been going around since 1867! Also, they say if I don't keep it going, my love life will go to hell. Amazing, they seem to be right...

The internet was around in the US in the 1960's.The whole idea of web pages,http and html came from British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee who was working at CERN.Those of you who have the Time 100 scientists and thinkers special edition magaxine will find him in there.

Al Gore says he invented the internet. Now, we all know Al Gore is an extremely trustworthy (cough, cough) person. Would he lie to you?

The internet was not invented by a single person. Tim Berners-Lee created HTTP and invented HTML, DARPA (now ARPA) came up with the idea to link computers remotely and use a system-independent communications protocol (which became TCP/IP). Others again invented SMTP, POP, IRC, NNTP, and all the other protocols and standards.
Al Gore might even have been part of one of the organisations (probably as the janitor) involved.

Operationally the first "internetwork" of universities, UCLA, SRI, UC Santa Barbara and Utah, under the auspices of the Advanced Research Projects Agency at the Pentagon staggered into being at the end of 1969.

The World Wide Web is just a flashy feature that was added on some 20 years later.

The best technical history has to be "Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet" by Katie Hafner & Matthew Lyon published by Touchstone in 1996.

Should be compulsory reading for internet users, check out your local library or bookstore.

Oops sorry Tim. As G-KIRAN says above the name I was looking for was Tim Berners Lee, a British computer programmer working in America. Here's a link for anyone who is interested to know more about the history of the Web.